Awning



Aug 10, 1954 w, EVANS 2,685,716

AWNING Filed Feb. 13. 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l nmlllfii f I mlmlllllfi.

' INVENTOR. I w. L. EVANS ATTORNEY 1954 w. L. EVANS 2,685,716

AWNING Filed Feb. 13, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

' W- L. EVANS FIG- 9 Patented Aug. 10, 1954 UNITED STATES NT ()FFICE Claims. 1

This invention relates to building structures and more particularly to an awning structure preferably formed of aluminum or other equivalent light-Weight material.

l-leretofore, numerous structures of this nature have been developed and utilized and many of these were relatively unsatisfactory due to diniculties in air circulation, lack of sufficient rigidity to permit circulation of air without serious distortion of the material, susceptibility to leakage of rain water, and lack of suflicient ventilation.

These prior metallic awnings were also difiicult to handle and install when relatively large areas were to be covered since one-piece structures in such instances were cumbersome and impractical, also where a plurality of sections were assembled on the job to form a complete awning structure it has heretofore been con-- sidered necessary to provide a lock seam which could be assembled only by relative longitudinal movement, which operation was exceedingly difficult and often resulted in serious damage and extreme fatigue to the awning structures, if not actual bodily injury to the persons making the installations.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a metallic awning which may be conveniently manufactured from light-weight sheet metal with structural forms of the same material and which may be constructed as a unitary roof unit with adjustable removable ends applicable at the time of installation or which may be supplied as a complete unit ready for installation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a metallic awning structure in which a portion of the side walls may be directly secured to the material of the roof portion or in which special fastening means in the formof brackets may be provided in order to permit location of the side walls at any desired point whereby the structure may be easily adapted to an existing buildmg.

Another object of the invention is to provide a metallic awning structure in which means may be conveniently provided for facilitating the attachment of the structure to a building by fastening means applied from the inside of the structure, from the outside of the structure, or from the inside at one end and from the outside at the opposite end, thus materially increasing the flexibility of the structure and adapting the same to all types of buildings.

A further object of the invention is to provide a metallic awning in which ample ventilation is obtained between both the side walls and the roof portion and at a point adjacent the engagement of the roof portion with the building.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a metallic awning structure which may be manufactured in prefabricated units of predetermined size, which units may be assembled to provide an awning of any desired length, susceptible of assembly on location and Without the necessity of longitudinal sliding movement to obtain a lock seam, thus materially facilitating such assembly and the installation of the awnmg.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View illustrating a metallic awning constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2, a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. l disclosing the internal supporting structure and the manner of attaching the side wall to the roof portion thereof;

Fig. 3, a sectional view on the line 3--3 of Fig.

Fig. 4, a fragmentary sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3 illustrating alternative ways of attaching the side walls to the downwardly extending skirt of the roof portion;

Fig. 5, a sectional view similar to Fig. 4 of a further structure for uniting the side walls and the downwardly extending skirt of the roof portion thereof;

Fig. 6, a fragmentary sectional view with parts broken away for greater clarity and particularly illustrating the engagement between the roof portion of the awning and the wall of the building to which the same is attached with a modified form of flashing for obtaining a leak-proof union between the awning structure and the building;

Fig. 7, a fragmentary perspective of portions of the roof and downwardly extending skirt with the lock seam utilized to secure adjacent unitary sections of the awning in assembled relation;

Fig. 8, a fragmentary plan view of the joint between adjacent flashing sections having particular utility when assembling a plurality of sections on location to provide a relatively long awning structure; and

Fig. 9, a fragmentary elevational view showing the manner of securing together the angle bar supporting structure and the joint between adjacent roof sections utilized for the same purpose as the structure illustrated in Fig. 8.

With continued reference to the drawings there is shown in Fig. 1 a metallic awning constructed in accordance with this invention and having a roof portion Hl which may be ccnven iently manufactured from sheet aluminum or other equivalent light-weight metal, this roof portion being provided with alternate substantially rectangular in cross section ridges ii and valleys i2, thus providing a roof portion or a sheet having in eifeot square corrugations.

The roof portion i0 is intended to slope downwardly from a wall of a building to which the structure is attached whereby sufficient pitch will be provided to facilitate the flow of rain water away from the building whereby the joint between the roof portion and the wall or the building may be easily and efiectively sealed.

The ridges l 5 adjacent the outer edge of the roof portion it are provided with slots or elongated openings 53 to the roof portion is to provide a depending skirt portion id likewise provided with alternate ridges and valleys.

During the bending operation the edges of the slots iii, are caused to separate to provide openings is which permit the circulation of air for ventilating purposes. The valleys 82 are continuous between the roof portion l0 and skirt Hi and since the major portion of the rain water flowing on the roof will be in the valleys sub stantially no leakage through the openings it will occur and even if there is slight leakage it will be of no particular moment since this is immediately adjacent the edge of the awning and the rain water flowing therein will flow from the edge of the skirt portion. i l and will mingle with the small amount of moisture which flows through the openings i5.

As best shown in Fig. 2 the valleys l2 adjacent the upper ends thereof are provided with upwardly bent portions it to prevent back-flow of water collecting in the valleys i2 thereby precluding leakage beneath the awning at this location.

The awning, as shown in Fig. 1, may be provided with side or end walls 5'! having alternate ridges and valleys and constructed of the same material utilized in the roof portion i i. These end walls are of generally triangular formation in order to engage the vertical walls of a building to which the awning is attached. Such ends are adapted to be received within the awning structure and secured both to the roof portion iii and the skirt portion it. For this purpose each side or end wall l1 may be provided with frame menu bers in the form of horizontal angle members it secured to the side wall l'i by suitable rivets or fasteners 19 and an inclined angle member 2t secured. to the side or end wall ll by rivets or other fasteners 2!. Auxiliary clips or angle members 22 are secured to each inclined angle member 2d adjacent the upper and lower ends thereof and these auxiliary clips or angle members serve to secure the side or end walls ii to the roof portion is by screw threaded or other fastening means 23 engaging longitudinally disposed angle members 2% joined to the roof portion ill by rivets or other fasteners 25.

It will thus be understood that the supporting structure for the side or end walls ll serves to securely fasten these walls to the roof portion id and at the same time provide a space 2% between each end wall and the roof portion which per mits circulation of air and consequent desired ventilation beneath the awning. As best shown in Figs 1 and 3, the side or end walls ii are located inwardly of the edges of the roof portion it sufficiently to protect against the entry of rain through the ventilating openings 25.

The side or end walls il in addition to being supported by the roof portion it are secured to the downwardly extending skirt portion M and the manner of attachment thereof may be selected to accommodate the particular size of awning and mode of installation. As shown in Fig. 4, the side or end walls ll each may be provided adjacent the forward edge thereof with a substantially vertical flange 2i having a surface substantially parallel to the inner surface of the depending skirt portion i l, the flange 21 terminating in a reversely bent flange 28 substantially parallel to the plane of the side or end wall ll.

As shown in phantom in Fig. 4 the flange 21 may be secured directly to the rear or inner wall of one of the valleys of the depending skirt M or as shown in full lines, a bracket 29 may be provided with a portion at secured to the inner or rear wall of one of the ridges of the depending skirt i by screw threaded or other fastening means (it. The bracket 29 terminates rearwardiy of the skirt portion i i in a reversely bent channel 32 adapted to receive the flange 28 of the end. or side wall i'i. By this latter described structure the end or side walls i'J may be located at any desired position along the length of the roof portion id and skirt portion i i, the end or side wall being secured to the skirt portion either adjacent one of the valleys or one of the ridges.

Since the sheet metal of which the roof portion ii; and skirt portion i l is fabricated is available in standard sizes it is expedient to manufacture these portions of such standard parts. Consequently in some installations the length of the awning will not be proper to permit the provision of a preformed inwardly extending flange 33 at each end of the structure. As shown in Fig. 3, such a preformed flange is shown at the left hand side thereof, this flange being provided with a reversely bent edge portion 34 to present a smooth appearance and prevent injury to workmen on account of rough exposed edges. The equivalent of flange 33 may be provided on the opposite end of the awning structure as shown in Fig. 4, by a portion 35 secured to the roof portion HE and depending skirt portion is by a lock seam 3d, the flange 35 having a reversely bent portion 31 to present a smooth appearance and avoid a raw unfinished edge.

The end or side walls ii are designed to intimately engage the wall of a building to which the awning is to be applied and the attachment of these end or side walls to the wall of the building provides the major support of the awning struc' ture. For this purpose, the end or side walls H may be provided at their inner vertical edges with an inwardly directed flange 38 as shown in Fig. 4, or an outwardly directed flange 39 as shown in Fig. 5.

If desired, a suitable number of end or side walls having each type of flange may be provided so that any desired combination may be obtained in order to permit installation of the awning in a corner of a building in which case it would be be necessary to utilize the inwardly directed flange 38 with fastening members extending therethrough into the wall of the building, and the securing flange on the opposite end as on a wall away from a corner could be either the inwardly directed type 38 or the outwardly directed type 39.

As shown in Fig. 5, if desired, the flange 39 may be reinforced by the application of an angle member 49 attached thereto by rivets or the like 4I and in instances where relatively large awnings are to be supported such reinforcement is highly desirable. However, in relatively small awnings a reversely turned flange 38 as illustrated in Fig. 4 is all that is necessary to properly support the awning structure. This facilitates installation of the awning of this invention on any building regardless of the particular design thereof and location of the corners on the wall to which the awning is to be applied.

As mentioned above, the material for use in fabricating the awning is available in standard sizes and therefore the roof portion Ill and the depending skirt portion It may be conveniently fabricated in unitary sections of a predetermnied size and since the smallest desirable section is somewhat larger than the maximum available sheet of material it is necessary to secure two or more sections together in order to obtain the desired sizes.

As shown in Fig. 3, the sections are prefabricated and fastened together by a lock seam #2 on the edge of one of the ridges I I and the adjacent edges of a valley I2. The described look seam structure 42 is also shown in Fig. 7 with particular reference to the structure thereof at the opening I5 between the ridges II of the roof portion Ill and the ridge of the depending skirt portion I4.

A third method of attaching the end or side wall ii to the depending skirt portion I4 is shown in Fig. 5 and comprises a reversely bent flange 43 on the skirt portion I4, the flange 63 providing a groove 44 receiving a reversely bent flange 45 on the end or side wall I'l. Such a structure is particularly adapted for use where the end flange on the roof portion It and depending skirt portion M may have preformed portions 33 as shown in Fig. 3, this structure being usable on the opposite end of the awning when the size is predetermined and in accordance with a multiple of the size of the basic section.

At the point where the roof portion I9 abuts the wall of the building to which the awning is attached it is necessary to provide some means for preventing leakage of water and this may be conveniently accomplished by utilizing a flashing strip such as that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 or, if desired, the form shown in Fig. 6. In both of these instances the flashing strip is designed to present a pleasing appearance and provide a decorative effect as well as to effectively prevent leakage between the awning and the wall of the building.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, flashing strip 45 comprises a flat elongated portion 47 adapted to lie in intimate contact with the upper surface of the ridges II and be secured thereto by screw threaded fastening means or the like 48. In order to present a pleasing appearance the strip 46 may be provided adjacent its lower edge with an angular bead 49 having an edge thereof in contact with the ridges Ii. The upper portion of flashing strip 46 is bent upwardly at an angle to flat portion 4'! and presents a substantially flat surface for engagement with the wall of the building. The strip 45 is secured to such wall by suitable fastening means extending through apertures 5i in the upturned portion. The up turned portion terminates in an outwardly extending portion 52 which provides a generally U- shaped groove between this portion and the Wall of the building which may conveniently be filled with any suitable plastic caulking compound 53 as shown in Fig. 6. The flashing strip 46 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is intended to be attached to the building after installation of the awning structure or if desired complete installation of the flashing strip may be accomplished after installation of the awning structure.

The flashing strip disclosed in Fig. 6 is com posed of two parts 54 and 55, the part 55 being intended to be attached to the wall 56 of the building prior to installation of the awning, the portion 55 comprising an outwardly and downwardly extending flange .51, a substantially ver tical flat portion 58 which is secured to the wall 56 by screw threaded fastening means or the like 59, and an outwardly extending angular flange which provides a groove for receiving the caulking compound 53. The portion 54 comprises a susbtantially flat strip 6I adapted to be secured to the ridges I I by screw threaded fastening means or the like 62 and overlie and firmly clamp the downwardly extending flange 57 of portion in firm engagement with the ridges I I of the roof portion I 0. The flashing strip portion 54 is provided with an angular bead 63 to enhance the appearance thereof.

In installing the flashing strip disclosed in Fig. 6 the portion 55 is normally secured to the wall 56 in its proper location prior to installation of the awning, after which the awning is placed in position with the downwardly extending flange 57 located between the strip 6| of portion 54 whereupon the awning is secured in place on the wall 56 as fully described above. After installation of the awning, fastening means 62 is securely tightened in order to force the strip 6| into firm engagement with the downwardly extending flange 5'! and thus provide a tight joint between the roof portion I0 and the flashing strip portion 55 secured to the wall 56 of the building.

Where it is necessary to provide awnings of appreciable length it has been found expedient to provide means for conveniently and quickly joining preformed sections together in order to construct such an awning on location and with out the necessity of engaging lock seams by lon gitudinal sliding movement which would necessitate undue extension and support of the awning structure over a relatively wide area in order to prevent inadvertent damage during the assembly operation. For this purpose the struc ture disclosed in Figs. 8 and 9 has been provided. With particular reference to Fig. 9, the adjacent awning sections are fabricated as described abov in connection with Figs. 1 to 3, the roof portions being provided with the longitudinal extending angle members 24 and alternate ridges H and valleys I2. The right hand portion, as shown in Fig. 9, terminates in a ridge 64 having an inturned flange 65. The left hand portion terminates in a ridge 66 and a down turned flange 67 said ridge being receivable within the ridge 64. The angle member 24 secured to th right hand portion extends slightly beyond the ridge 64 while the angle member 2a secured to the left hand section terminates short of the ridge 66.

In assembling the two adjacent sections it is only necessary to move the two sections laterally with respect to each other in order to nest the inner ridge 66 within the outer ridge 64 after which the sections are united by relatively short angle members 68 engaging within the legs of angle members 24 and being secured thereto by screw threaded fastening means or the like 69. This results in a completely leak proof substan tially rigid structure which precludes the ne cessity of longitudinal sliding movement between the adjacent sections and results in comparative ease of assembly and substantially removes the possibility of inadvertent damage to the awning structure.

The right and left hand sections of the awning, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, each are provided with flashing strips it and H respectively. These flashing strips are similar to those described above in connection with Figs. 1, 2, and 6 and when the adjacent sections of the awning are assembled these strips overlap each other sufficiently to provide a good bearing surface as shown at 1'2, it only being necessary after installation of the awning to securely tighten the fastening means is which secures the strips 18 and H to the adjacent awning sections to provide sufiicient engagement between the adjacent strips to prevent leakage.

It will be seen that by the above described awning structure there has been provided a relatively lightweight metallic awning which may be coated with any desired decorative material in a variety of colors to protect from the elemerits and which may be easily and quickly adapted to all types of building structures upon which it is desired to install the awning as well as one in which the sections may be prefabricated predetermined sizes and easily assembled on location in order to provide a complete awning of the desired size.

Novel means also has been incorporated to facilitate the provision of awnings of the correct size and also means has been provided to facilitate the installation of the awnings, especially where one or more end or side walls thereof are desired in corners or other places difficult of access.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in this in vention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore this application is not limited by that which is shown in the drawings or by that which is disclosed in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A metallic awning structure comprising a corrugated sloping roof portion terminating at one in a downwardly extending skirt portion, spaced substantially parallel angle bars secured to the underside of said roof portion, frame Jeans secured to said angle bars, side walls spaced inwardly from the ends of said roof portion and secured to said frame means, said side walls terminating at "their upper edges below said roof portion to provide continuous uninterrupted ventilating openings, brackets secured to the inner surface of said skirt portion, a reversely bent flange on each bracket forming a channel, a flange on the forward edge of each side wall received in said channel whereby said side walls are secured to said skirt portion and a flashing strip secured to said roof portion and abutting the wall of a building to which said awning structure is secured whereby leakage between said awning and said building is prevented.

A metallic awning structure comprising a corrugated sloping roof portion terminating the one edge in a downwardly extending skirt portion, spaced substantially parallel bars secured to the underside of said roof portion, side walls spaced inwardly from the ends of said roof portion and secured to said bars, said walls terminating at their upper edges below said roof portion to provide continuous uninterrupted ventilating openings, brackets secured to the inner surface of said skirt portion, a reversely bent flange on each bracket forming a channel, a flange on the forward edge of each side wall received in said channel, whereby said side walls are secured to said skirt portion and a flashing strip secured to said roof portion and abutting the wall of a building to which said awning structure is secured, whereby leakage between said awning and said building is prevented.

3. A metallic awning structure comprising a sloping roof portion terminating at one edge in a downwardly extending skirt portion, spaced substantially parallel bars secured to the underside of said roof portion, side walls spaced inwardly from the ends of said roof portion and secured to said bars, said side walls terminating at their upper edges below said roof portion to provide continuous uninterrupted ventilating openings, brackets secured to the inner surface of said skirt portion, a reversely bent flange on each bracket forming a channel, a flange on the forward edge of each side wall received in said channel whereby said side walls are secured to said skirt portion and a flashing strip secured to said roof portion and abutting the wall of a building to which said awning structure is secured, whereby leakage between said awning and said building is prevented.

A metallic awning structure comprising a sloping roof portion terminating at one edge in a downwardly extending skirt portion, spaced substantially parallel bars secured to the underside of said roof portion, side walls spaced inwardly from the ends of said roof portion and secured to said bars, said side walls terminating at their upper edges below said roof portion to provide continuous uninterrupted ventilating openings, brackets secured to the inner surface of said skirt portion, a reversely bent flange on each bracket forming a channel and a flange on the forward edge of each side wall received in said channel whereby said side walls are secured to said skirt portion.

5. A metallic awning structure comprising a roof portion terminating in a downwardly extending skirt portion, spaced bars secured. to the underside of said roof portion, a side wall having an inclined member along the upper edge thereof spaced from the roof portion, and said spaced bars being secured to said inclined menu bers, and said side walls being secured to said inclined member and having the upper edges spaced from the roof portion to provide a substantially uninterrupted ventilating opening.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 283,023 Rodgers Aug. 14, 1883 323,418 Hildebrandt Aug. 4, 1885 1,516,968 Hall Feb. 8, 192'? 1,791,058 Gregg Feb. 3, 1931 1,930,595 Moser Oct. 17, 1933 2,098,705 Houseman Nov. 9, 1937 2,441,081 Perry et a1. May 4, 1948 2,474,011 Overly June 21, 1949 2,503,136 Simpson Apr. 4, 1950 

